


Of Pianos and Molten Steel

by IreneADonovan



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - Music, Canon Disabled Character, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-24 17:00:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21781333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IreneADonovan/pseuds/IreneADonovan
Summary: Classical pianist Charles. Metal musician Erik. Each secretly a fan of the other.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 10
Kudos: 63
Collections: Secret Mutant Madness 2019





	Of Pianos and Molten Steel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lynds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynds/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [Lynds](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynds/pseuds/Lynds) in the [secret_mutant_madness_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/secret_mutant_madness_2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> **Charles is a classical musician, Erik is a rock star. But instead of being really snotty about each other’s music, they’re both fans!**
> 
> **Look, I just hate the idea that classical musicians must hate rock! I’m a mezzo-soprano but my fav band is Muse! I just can’t SING it. Some proper music nerdery would be amazing - I don’t want them to have the same tastes as each other, but I want them to have realistically diverse tastes! Idk Erik plays indie rock but loves the latest Krept & Konan track and can’t listen to Bach without closing his eyes to soak it up?**
> 
> As someone whose musical tastes range from metal to showtunes, this prompt really appealed. Hope you like my take on it.

Erik strolled behind the music hall, trying to appear nonchalant. He wasn't supposed to be here, but he really didn't care.

Banners and posters hanging on and around the building advertised the triumphant return of Charles Xavier to the stage. Reputed to be the best classical pianist of his generation -- Erik thought that to be at least close to true -- Xavier had not performed in public since the auto accident that had nearly killed him more than a year ago.

The concert was Saturday, and Erik damned near would have given his left nut to be there, but he had a gig of his own that night, and his manager would kill him if he bailed. Literally. The man had connections to the Russian mob, and teleporters were very good at making people disappear.

But the man had attempted to appease Erik by using some of his other connections to learn when Xavier would be rehearsing in the music hall. And that he would be doing so alone.

So Erik was sneaking his way to the side exit nearest the stage. The building was well soundproofed, but when he extended his metal-sense, he could feel hammers striking, wires vibrating, and just beyond them, the titanium alloy of the wheelchair Xavier now used.

Erik reached the door, used his powers to open it silently, then slipped inside.

The music faltered for the barest instant, and an irritated _Who the hell are you?_ blasted into his mind. Damn. He'd forgotten Xavier was a telepath.

 _Yeah. I am. I repeat, who the hell are you?_ Despite his obvious annoyance, Xavier's mental voice was nearly identical to his physical one, rich and resonant, his accent posh English.

_You don't just **know**?_

_I don't just invade the minds of random strangers. I have scruples._

_The telepath I know has none._ Well, maybe a few, but not many.

_We're not all like that. Now tell me who you are or I'll make you think you're a twelve-year-old girl._

_Name's Erik. I'm a fan._

_So come to the concert._

_I'm working Saturday night._

_So you decided to crash my rehearsal instead._

_Pretty much._ Erik projected his utter lack of repentance.

The mental equivalent of an aggrieved sigh. _Fine. Sit down and be quiet, or I'll make you leave. And that includes thinking too loud._

Erik sank into the nearest seat and let the music wash over him. It wasn't a piece he recognized, but it was mesmerizing and technically complex. Even as he lost himself in it, he analyzed it note for note.

 _You're thinking too loud,_ Xavier complained.

_Sorry. Occupational hazard._

_Well, quit it, or I really will make you leave. Calm your mind._

Erik closed his eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, stilled his mind by letting his metal-sense spool outward, lulling himself with rhythms both natural and man-made, letting the music become part of a larger symphony.

He was so deep in reverie that he almost didn't notice when the music stopped. He blinked his eyes open, fighting lassitude, in time to see Xavier backing away from the piano.

"Trying to sneak off?" Erik called.

Xavier pivoted to face him. "Yes, damn you."

"Is that any way to treat a fan?"

"For all I know, you're a stalker, come to kidnap and kill me when my performance doesn't measure up to what I've done in the past."

"Do you really think it doesn't?"

Xavier peered down at him. "You think it does?"

"I think that was the best performance I've ever heard from you."

Xavier cocked one dark brow.

Erik rose, moved closer. "You've always been brilliant, and not just technically. You have a gift for making the audience feel the music, and it's even stronger now. There's a new depth to your playing, a maturity."

Xavier smiled. "So what are you, a music critic?"

"Hell no," Erik said. "A musician."

Xavier studied him for a moment, then his eyes widened. "Bloody hell, you're Erik Lehnsherr. Molten Steel."

His band. "Yeah."

"You guys are fucking fantastic."

"Pardon?"

Xavier grinned, and Erik couldn't help but notice that his lips were even redder in person than in photographs. "Surely you're not going to make the mistake of assuming I don't like metal just because I play classical, when clearly the reverse is true of you."

Erik grinned back, though he had indeed made just that assumption.

"And I truly am a fan, ever since I heard 'Call to War.'" Molten Steel's first successful song, both critically and financially. "So many layers, both in the lyrics and the music. I know you guys are metal rather than prog, but it reminds me a little of Rush, those time signature changes especially."

"'Hemispheres,' particularly the 'Armageddon' section, was in the back of my mind when I wrote that," Erik admitted, his grin growing even wider, to the one most people said made him look like a shark. Xavier didn't seem intimidated.

"Brilliant. I don't entirely agree with your arguments, though."

"Few do," Erik acknowledged.

Xavier regarded him with those impossibly azure eyes then said, "I need to eat. Would you care to join me for dinner?"

"I do believe I have the whole evening free."

"And the night as well?" Xavier's tone had grown decidedly flirtatious.

"If you're lucky."

Xavier grinned again. "I'm always lucky. And please, call me Charles."


End file.
